So for the past two weeks I've barely travelled...and it's been awesome. Fall break was, to say the least, completely draining. Ten days of backpacking+nearly physically harming fellow travellers due to frustration+language barriers+currency exchanges (the czech crown...WTFFFF)+seeing beautiful views, hiking, visiting churches and castles in multiple different countries= ONE TIRED-OF-TRAVELLING HANNAH. No joke. One can do with a break from beautiful cathedrals and art museums and views after ten straight days of it. It has been so relaxing to stay in/near Perugia for the past two weeks.
Last weekend, I stayed in Perugia with friends, and then took a day trip with a class to Rome on Saturday. We visited the Keates/Shelley House (these English writers who escaped to Italy for health and lived right on the Spanish Steps in Rome)...and then saw the cemetary where they were buried (old...cool...cats EVERYWHERE (friends with the dead people, I guess)). It was actually my first trip to Rome! Crazy...I know...I've been here for three months and I've yet to go to Rome (minus to the airport for catching planes).
Pathetic Sidenote: I definitely had the Lizzie McGuire Movie Soundtrack stuck in my head the ENTIRE time I was in Rome that day. "THIS IS WHAT DREEAAAAAMS ARE MADE OF" YEAH. Sad. Literally caught myself singing it outloud under my breath while walking down the Spanish Steps.
Fun travellers sidenote: Trains SUCK. Like okay yeah they're nice blah blah blah because you don't have to drive, but let me tell you, there is NOTHING more stressful than getting tickets for/finding/hopefully not missing your train. Train conductors have no mercy. Once those doors lock, even if the train is still there, you're NOT getting on, sorry about it. So my whole class is waiting for the metro to take us back to the train station to make our 1:30pm train. Time check: 1:15. REALLLY pushing it. The metro pulls up, and it's PACKED TO THE BRIM (fun fact number 2: the metro system in rome SUCKS, you are jam-packed like sardines in a pick-pocketer infested subway car in the dark with strangers rubbing up on your body. IF you're lucky enough to even get on.). So my whole class gets on except my friend Lauren and I. We're trying to push our way in and literally get shoved off, right before the doors close and the metro takes off without us. But we're young, we're optimistic. We wait for the next line to the train station. We get off the metro. It's 1:26, and we're BOOKIN through the train station, no shame. (That's one thing you learn here...there's literally NO SHAME in running through the train station. Everyone does it. The trains have no mercy.) We get to the train. 1:29. Doors still open. LAUREN HASN'T VALIDATED HER TICKED. OOOHHH SHOOT. If you get on a train in this country without validating your ticket...you're screwed. Huge fine. So she's digging in her purse for her ticket...gets it stamped...we run to the train....DOORS CLOSED.
No such luck, my friends. The whole class headed back on the train to Perugia without us....Needless to say, it was NOT the best first-time-in-Rome experience.
LUCKILY, two days later, I did a little solo trip to Rome (skipped Monday classes) to meet up with some Gusties who were spending their fall break in Italy! The train ride was fine, I got there nice and early, met up with Britt and Emily, we thought we had it all under control. FALSE. Another fun fact about Italy: they have train/bus/public transportation strikes WHENEVER THEY WANT. A strike is called a "sciopero" and they are REAL common, and planned ahead of time. And usually just for a day at a time. So luckily, on our one day in Rome together, there was a public transportation strike. This means no metro, and really infrequent buses.
So we gave in and did a hop-on/hop-off tour. It sounds SO cheezy, but in reality, it was the best decision EVER. We got to see all of the main sites without having to deal with the chaos and discomfort of the metro/the buses/pick-pocketers in Rome. It was SO relaxing, and I got to see Rome from a whole new perspective.
So this was me, keeping close to home, having a couple relaxing day trips...mixed in with some stress of travelling (brush it off...brush it off...hahaha). I swear when I get back, public transportation/flying won't even phase me. Flying especially. Flights are as easy as train rides/car rides here. Just get on, buckle your seat belt, sleep, and arrive in another country in a couple hours. HOW COOL IS THAT.
Now about that 8 hour plane right back to America in a month....
Last weekend, I stayed in Perugia with friends, and then took a day trip with a class to Rome on Saturday. We visited the Keates/Shelley House (these English writers who escaped to Italy for health and lived right on the Spanish Steps in Rome)...and then saw the cemetary where they were buried (old...cool...cats EVERYWHERE (friends with the dead people, I guess)). It was actually my first trip to Rome! Crazy...I know...I've been here for three months and I've yet to go to Rome (minus to the airport for catching planes).
Pathetic Sidenote: I definitely had the Lizzie McGuire Movie Soundtrack stuck in my head the ENTIRE time I was in Rome that day. "THIS IS WHAT DREEAAAAAMS ARE MADE OF" YEAH. Sad. Literally caught myself singing it outloud under my breath while walking down the Spanish Steps.
Fun travellers sidenote: Trains SUCK. Like okay yeah they're nice blah blah blah because you don't have to drive, but let me tell you, there is NOTHING more stressful than getting tickets for/finding/hopefully not missing your train. Train conductors have no mercy. Once those doors lock, even if the train is still there, you're NOT getting on, sorry about it. So my whole class is waiting for the metro to take us back to the train station to make our 1:30pm train. Time check: 1:15. REALLLY pushing it. The metro pulls up, and it's PACKED TO THE BRIM (fun fact number 2: the metro system in rome SUCKS, you are jam-packed like sardines in a pick-pocketer infested subway car in the dark with strangers rubbing up on your body. IF you're lucky enough to even get on.). So my whole class gets on except my friend Lauren and I. We're trying to push our way in and literally get shoved off, right before the doors close and the metro takes off without us. But we're young, we're optimistic. We wait for the next line to the train station. We get off the metro. It's 1:26, and we're BOOKIN through the train station, no shame. (That's one thing you learn here...there's literally NO SHAME in running through the train station. Everyone does it. The trains have no mercy.) We get to the train. 1:29. Doors still open. LAUREN HASN'T VALIDATED HER TICKED. OOOHHH SHOOT. If you get on a train in this country without validating your ticket...you're screwed. Huge fine. So she's digging in her purse for her ticket...gets it stamped...we run to the train....DOORS CLOSED.
No such luck, my friends. The whole class headed back on the train to Perugia without us....Needless to say, it was NOT the best first-time-in-Rome experience.
LUCKILY, two days later, I did a little solo trip to Rome (skipped Monday classes) to meet up with some Gusties who were spending their fall break in Italy! The train ride was fine, I got there nice and early, met up with Britt and Emily, we thought we had it all under control. FALSE. Another fun fact about Italy: they have train/bus/public transportation strikes WHENEVER THEY WANT. A strike is called a "sciopero" and they are REAL common, and planned ahead of time. And usually just for a day at a time. So luckily, on our one day in Rome together, there was a public transportation strike. This means no metro, and really infrequent buses.
So we gave in and did a hop-on/hop-off tour. It sounds SO cheezy, but in reality, it was the best decision EVER. We got to see all of the main sites without having to deal with the chaos and discomfort of the metro/the buses/pick-pocketers in Rome. It was SO relaxing, and I got to see Rome from a whole new perspective.
Britt and I on the tour bus in Rome!
We visited the Colosseum. It's HUGE. You expect it to be huge and awesome, but it's even huge-ER and awesome-ER than I ever imagined. Incredible.
Fun sidenote: Surrounding the colosseum are men dressed as gladiators willing to take pictures with tourists if you give them money. And they yell at you when you walk past. Fun things the Italian Gladiator Men said to us:
"HEY! CHARLIES ANGELS! WHERE YOU FROM?!"
"The states."
"WHYY AMERICAN GIRLS SO EVERY PRETTY? SO EVERY BEAUTIFUL!!"
And then later when I was walking around alone outside the Colosseum (Britt and Emily went in...I'm going with a class in a couple weeks, so I just took the time to explore around outside):
"HEY BLONDIE! I LOOOVE YOU!"
Gotta love them Italian gladiators. Or Italian men in general.
Then we visited Vatican City. Saw St. Peter's Basilica (behind me in this picture), and the Vatican Museums, and the Sistine Chapel!
ANNND of course, the Trevi Fountain. We all made wishes and threw coins in to the fountain, obviously (just like in the Lizzie McGuire Movie....obvs).
And then we got hit on by a group of 14 year old Italian boys.
OOOHHHH the stories.
The Trevi Fountain was definitely my favorite part of Rome. So peaceful yet so chaotic, so MAGICAL! And BEAUTIFUL! I loved it. Maybe because I felt like Lizzie McGuire making her wish right before she met Paolo....baaaah Lizzie McGuire was so cool.
Now about that 8 hour plane right back to America in a month....
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